We recently launched a new website for H2 Sustainables, a heating, gas and plumbing business offering everything from boiler installations and servicing to heat pumps, heating controls and landlord gas safety checks.
On the face of it, it might not be the sort of project people immediately associate with We Are Life. We often work with beauty businesses, food businesses, photographers, fitness studios, artists, independent retailers and all sorts in between. H2 Sustainables sits somewhere quite different again. But the thinking behind the website is exactly the same.
understanding before designing
We don’t need to arrive at a project already knowing every technical detail of a client’s industry. That expertise belongs to the client. Our job is to listen, understand enough of the business to recognise what matters, and then interpret it for the people visiting the website.
- What do they need to know?
- What needs explaining?
- What can be simplified?
- And what can simply be left out?
With H2 Sustainables, the brief was particularly clear. The business already has plenty of work, so the website didn’t need to become an elaborate lead-generating machine. At this stage, its purpose is much simpler: to provide clear information, establish the professional standing of the business and give people an easy way to make contact. So that’s what we designed.
No unnecessary pages. No complicated journeys. No content added simply because somebody once decided every business website ought to have it. Just a clear introduction, the services offered, straightforward contact information and the credentials people need to see.
simple isn’t the same as simplistic
There’s a lot going on behind a business like H2 Sustainables. Boilers. Heat pumps. Gas safety. Heating controls. Unvented hot water systems. Servicing. Repairs. Landlord certification. The website doesn’t need to make all of that feel complicated just because the work itself is technical. Good design should do the opposite. It should organise information, create hierarchy and make it easier for someone to understand what a business does without having to work at it.
That is where our Less is More approach comes in. Less doesn’t mean removing substance. It means removing noise.
a business doesn’t have to look like its sector
Certain industries come with their own visual shorthand. And plumbing probably has more than its fair share. Vans. Spanners. Water droplets. Bright primary colours. And, somewhere along the way, quite possibly a cartoon tradesperson standing at a jaunty angle, tool in one hand and enthusiastic thumbs-up in the other. There’s nothing inherently wrong with any of those things if that is genuinely how a business wants to present itself. But designing for a particular industry doesn’t mean reproducing all the visual conventions of that industry.
H2 Sustainables wanted to feel professional, established, contemporary and straightforward. So that became the focus. A restrained colour palette. Strong imagery. Clear typography. Simple iconography. Plenty of space. Nothing competing for attention. The nature of the business informed the design. It didn’t dictate a cliché.
the right amount of website
We also think websites should reflect what a business actually needs now. Not what somebody thinks a website is supposed to contain. H2 Sustainables doesn’t currently need a huge site full of landing pages, downloadable guides, pop-ups, funnels and endless calls to action. It needs a professional online presence that quietly does its job. And if the needs of the business change, the website can change with them. If H2 wants to focus more heavily on a particular service in future, attract more enquiries or develop a different part of the business, the site can grow accordingly.
That is much better than building unnecessary complexity from day one.
different business. same thinking…
Every client brings their own expertise, personality and way of working. Our role is not to make them all look the same. It is to understand what makes each business work, distil that into something clear and present it in a way that feels considered, confident and appropriate. Whether we are working with a deli, a beauty business, a photographer or a heating and plumbing company, the process remains the same.
Listen – Distil – Reveal.
Different kind of business. Same kind of thinking.